ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UCSD (including UCSD Healthcare)
ALL STUDENTS AT UCSD

SUBJECT: Managing Future Growth of UCSD's Business Operations

Dear Colleagues:

Our series of internal communiqués on campus growth issues continues
with this message from Steven Relyea, Vice Chancellor for Business
Affairs. As you read this message, you will see how the Division of
Business Affairs touches almost every aspect of life at UCSD: from food
and housing to safety and transportation to payroll and purchasing.
These services affect each member of our campus community. We don't just
study and work here; we live here, and the impact of unprecedented
growth on campus operations is a matter of paramount importance to all
of us. Throughout its history, UCSD has excelled at the business of
education. This era of growth gives us a greater incentive - and a
greater opportunity - to bolster our business practices. In this
message, Steve outlines how UCSD will manage the business of
institutional growth throughout this decade.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Dynes
Chancellor

**********************************************************

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR -
BUSINESS AFFAIRS

August 16, 2001

The numbers are daunting: 10,000 additional students, 400 more faculty.
How do we grow at such an unprecedented rate without sacrificing the
quality for which we've become known? That's the challenge facing UCSD
and the Office of Business Affairs as we map out a strategy for the
years through 2010.

To that end, we have launched initiatives to improve and expand the
campus infrastructure and to strengthen campus operations and business
practices. And we will continue to seek - and find - new ways to
deliver the highest level of support to our teaching, research, and
clinical programs without compromising the quality of our services.

In order to meet these challenges, we will focus on both making the most
of the resources we have now, and adding new resources where needed. As
the volume and complexity of work increases for UCSD staff, we will
provide both the staffing and the tools necessary to accommodate the
demands of the future. While there are no formulas for hiring new staff
to meet the student growth projections, as there are in the case of
faculty, my fellow Vice Chancellors and I are committed to recruiting
the additional staff necessary to meet the needs of UCSD programs and
initiatives. Our continued success depends on our ability to maintain
appropriate numbers of talented staff on campus to make our programs
work.

We are also committed to providing UCSD staff with the best tools and
training to sustain their excellence during this era of expansion. We
understand staff members' needs for easier access to better quality
information, simpler work processes, less bureaucracy and help when they
need it. Campus staff are already benefiting from Blink
(http://blink.ucsd.edu), a new Web initiative that pulls information,
tools, and other resources from across the university into one
integrated Web site that is easy to read and up to date. Blink is the
first staff Web portal project of its kind in the United States, another
tribute to the talented and creative staff we have attracted to UCSD.

The Staff Retention and Support Steering Committee, which is my
privilege to co-chair with Assistant Chancellor Linda Williams, will
identify campus priorities to ensure ongoing success in maintaining
excellent staff. This committee is exploring ways to ensure adequate
allocations for staff resources; strengthen the partnership between
faculty and staff; improve campus processes for recruitment,
classification and compensation; develop more effective communication
mechanisms, and identify opportunities to enhance staff's ability to get
the job done.

Through forums, focus groups, and surveys (see a summary of the results
at http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/surveyresults), we have gleaned what is
important to UCSD staff. We understand that the campus must maintain a
work environment that emphasizes trust, appreciation for diversity,
mutual respect and accountability. We know that quality-of-life issues
such as transportation and childcare are important to many staff, and we
must find ways to address those issues. Above all, we must enable each
staff member to maximize his or her contribution to the collective
mission of UCSD. To carry out the committee's mandate from Chancellor
Dynes, we will develop solutions to give the UCSD staff the resources
and environment they need for success.

Other initiatives to support UCSD's growth now in planning or
development include a new power plant to provide reliable energy, new
student housing facilities, a robust data and voice network, expanded
safety programs, new child care facilities, and many other efforts to
support the people who keep the campus working.

Great universities have certain things in common, including excellent
faculty, comprehensive libraries, and proper facilities. But none of
these are enough without the highly skilled and dedicated staff that
create the environment for teaching, research, and patient care.

UCSD has a national reputation for hiring the best and brightest staff,
women and men who are creative and always look for new and better ways
of doing things. Unlike employees of a typical company, UCSD staff are
essential in supporting solutions to community issues, creating an
environment for educating the next generation, and in helping discover
breakthroughs that will make this a better world for our children.